The labor market is still extremely competitive. This is doubly true in logistics, which has come out of the pandemic years more as a winner. Workers know there's demand for them and carefully choose who they want to work for. Recruiting new colleagues tends to be expensive, and employees often don't stay long at one workplace before moving on. Some companies, however, have found a solution in a (non-)traditional benefit.
Meal vouchers, meal allowances, contributions to pension or life insurance—there are many ways companies try to attract new workers and retain them. But in a time of an overheated labor market and financial uncertainty, these widely used benefits may not work.
At the start of 2020, the technology startup Advanto was founded, offering a service previously unseen on the Czech market: the option to withdraw part of your already worked wages at any point during the month. In other words, Advanto offers technology that lets companies leave it entirely up to their employees to decide when, how much, and how often they want to receive their earned money in their account, without placing any demands on the company's IT or accounting department.
The logistics company Hopi introduced Advanto this June. "Our goal was to give employees a functional, user-friendly wage advance system that doesn't create administrative burden, one that employees could use in the event of unexpected financial expenses, such as a broken fridge, washing machine, or car," says Ľubomír Horník, head of HR agenda at Hopi.
Fiege has had a similar experience. "We wanted to keep up with the times—that is, instead of paying out wage advances the classic, complicated way, we decided to be more progressive and also let people withdraw their money before it arrives in their account on payday. After all, it's a safer way than any other kind of loan," says Dagmar Pixová, HR manager at Fiege.
Pixová adds that other reasons for introducing Advanto included the desire to make the benefits offering more attractive and demand from existing employees for the company to introduce a similar benefit.
According to HR expert and head of the Czech HR Association (Svaz personalistů ČR), Petr Otáhal, it's understandable that there's demand for Earned Wage Access. "It's a benefit that directly addresses the most basic need of a huge group of employees. And that's their wages," he says.
HR expert Gerhard Knop from Leadership Synergy Group also confirms that, from an employee's perspective, wages available on demand can be more valuable than a higher payout once a month. "A fast reward is worth two rewards," he emphasizes.
Packeta, the company behind the popular logistics service Zásilkovna, has also recently started testing Advanto. "The decision to introduce Advanto was hastened even further by rising prices and, in general, the current period, which threatens the financial stability of our team. Advanto has proven to work very well as a tool for gaining an overview of one's income and expenses, and also as a safety net in case someone is short on money just before payday," says Olga Leharová, Head of Human Resources at Zásilkovna.
"We're seeing higher loyalty among people across the companies that use Advanto," says Fortelný. "On top of that, the Advanto app, where money accumulates in real time and can be paid out immediately, motivates people to work more hours—for example, by signing up for an extra shift," he adds.
"We increasingly hear from company leadership that employees are starting to see money and fast access to it as the new standard. Our mission is for payday loans, or generally disadvantageous and risky loans, to disappear from the market entirely—so that people have no need to use them at all," concludes Advanto founder Fortelný.
